Prizes for Excellent Teachers Student-led teaching excellence awards

Why? Staff-led Teaching Excellence Awards have been very successful in raising the profile of teaching excellence Student nominations have been encouraged SRC offers support to any students who wish to nominate Two student nominations in 09/10 Student nominations often fall short of winning as the criteria are difficult to fulfil by students Excellent teaching can mean something entirely different to students than it does to staff Involvement in, promotion of, and dissemination of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning For example through involvement in the delivery of events organised by the University’s Learning and Teaching Centre or national and/or internationally recognised external organisations, such as the Higher Education Academy’s subject-centre network. Income generation relating to the development of learning and teaching. For example developing new approaches using funding secured from the University’s Learning and Teaching Development Fund (LTDF), and /or funding secured from external organisations such as the Higher Education Academy (HEA), Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), or the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA).

Student-led schemes have proven successful at several institutions Foster positive staff-student relations Opportunity for students to show their appreciation of staff Showcase best practice Encourage development of positive teaching practices Staff and student schemes complement each other PETs run for students by students

What are the awards? Nominations in eight categories: Best College Teacher Best Advisor of Studies Best Research Supervisor Best Graduate Teaching Assistant Best Support Staff Focus on Employability Providing Best Feedback Most Organised Course

What about promotion? Poster campaigns campaigns Lecture call-outs Social media Council members Class reps Student media groups

Nomination process Through both online and a paper-based systems Open on February 7th

How are the winners selected? Selection panel of SRC Exec and council members Sets of criteria for each award Select based on quantity of nominations Select based on quality of nominations Short-list candidates – ideally 5-8 per category EUSA scheme had over 1000 nominations in its first year PETS have so far had seven...

What about the awards ceremony? March 22 nd Winners presented with trophy and certificate Short-listed nominees invited, together with the students who nominated them and some other University staff and students Opportunity for students to show their appreciation of staff and their teaching

What are we aiming to do? Recognise and reward great teaching from the students’ perspective Find the most inspiring and supportive staff members Identify pockets of best practice Disseminate best practice throughout the institution Improve the teaching overall Boost staff morale by ensuring them they are appreciated by the student body

How do we know if it worked? Scotland-wide scheme co-ordination with Higher Education Academy Compare number and quality of nominations with similar schemes at other institutions Compare with the well-established, staff-led TEA scheme Quality of nominations is important, as the key outcome of the scheme is dissemination of good practice through reporting to staff through management, and to students through class representatives and in student media.

What about 2012? Improvements will need to be made The solid base we have built for the awards this year will enable the awards to be recognised by the University PETs seen as contributing to excellent teaching practice Integrate awareness of the scheme into class representative training Continue to encourage and recognise staff who prioritise teaching quality and engagement of students